Loews Miami Beach Hotel Nears $305M Refi

The Loews Corporation is set to receive $305 million to refinance its oceanfront Miami Beach hotel in the latest major refinancing of a South Florida resort.

Wells Fargo Bank, National Association and J. P. Morgan Chase are co-originating the 10-year, fixed-rate, interest-only loan, according to a report by Fitch Ratings. About $5 million of the financing package will go toward closing costs, and the rest will refinance the existing debt. 

The transaction is scheduled to close Sept. 10. Representatives for Loews Hotels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Located at 1601 Collins Avenue, the 747,774-square-foot hotel is home to 790 rooms, 46,000 square feet of meeting space, a spa, and six restaurants and bars, including Rao’s, a storied Italian restaurant from New York, and a Pura Vida cafe that’s set to open this month.  

The hotel features two towers: One is 13 stories tall and completed in 1935, and another is 17 stories high built in 1998 — the same year the Loews Corporation purchased the property. 

Since 2016, the New York-based hospitality operator, led by the billionaire Tisch family, has spent $99 million renovating the complex, per Fitch Ratings. It plans to spend $53 million on upgrades. 

In other major South Florida hospitality refinancings, Michael Dell’s MSD Capital is nearing a $1 billion package to refinance the Boca Raton Resort & Club, a luxury 1,047-room property in South Florida. And, earlier this year, Trinity Real Estate Investments and Credit Suisse secured $575 million to refinance the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, which is also home to 1,000 rooms.

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.